TWD: Brownie Buttons

I'm back, bitches.

Yes, I realize it's been like weeks and weeks since I've participated in a Tuesdays with Dorie. I have some good excuses though... among them: 10 day vacation in Montana, Preparing to run back-to-back marathons, cutting sugar out of my diet. None of these things are particularly conducive to belonging to a baking club.

But, vacation is over, marathons are completed, and while I'm back on the no-sugar train. I've got some occasions where I can bake for other people. Hooray!

This week Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen chose Brownie Buttons. Essentially, these are brownies baked in mini-muffin cups... I like this idea in theory... small portions= fewer calories. Except... when you eat 9 of them, you're getting the same calories as you would in eating 1-2 regular size brownies. Oh well.

My family really liked these. We served them with some vanilla ice cream. But, I had a bite of them (normally, I could have easily said no because they kind of looked gross (a master decorator, I am not) but, I was intrigued by the fact that there's orange zest in the brownies and I wanted to see how that tasted). I didn't like them, though. For whatever reason, I just cannot get my palate sophisticated enough to like fruit and chocolate together (except cherries. but then again, I can practically eat cherries with anything). I took a bite of these brownies and though they didn't taste "orange-y" they tasted... floral-y. Fragrantly floral. Like... someone had sprayed perfume on the brownies or something. Ehhh... not my cup of tea. Maybe if I didn't know there was orange zest in them, I might have enjoyed them more... but since I could easily identify that "floral whang" in them, I was like.. blech. Orange and chocolate! No thanks.

Oh well, I tried.

Even without the orange zest, the texture of the brownies weren't really my favorite either. Too cake-y... not fudge-y enough. Que Sera Sera.

Check out Jayma's blog if you like floral brownies, or if you just wanna try something different. (And by the way... the orange zest is optional in the recipe, but without it... they're just regular ole cake-y brownies).